


Bones and Books

by flecksofpoppy



Series: Poppy's Adventures in Night Ficcing [6]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Tumblr Prompt, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 07:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5156072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flecksofpoppy/pseuds/flecksofpoppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They all need what Marco saw in him.</p><p>(Send me a ship and I'll write a ficlet tumblr meme: "Jearmin, things I said to protect you")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bones and Books

When he was a child, Armin was always better versed in books than bones. His grandfather had a library with (some illegal) tomes, which he read night and day. The words—some written by now unknown authors—that described both the inside and outside world intrigued him equally.

Even when he tasted the grit of dirt and blood, and knew the shame of needing to be saved, the experience didn’t dampen his passion for the written word.

But bones are something he knows more about now—a friend’s femur sticking out at an unnatural angle, the cage of Eren’s Titan form—and they say more things than even words can.

One of the bravest displays that Armin sees during graduation night is Jean Kirschstein, and it’s bone that’s given him the gift of courage.

Marco saw the good in Jean right from the start. Armin was too busy figuring out his own potential to notice, but the less time he’s spent fascinated by books or horrified by blood, he finds the focus to see a poeticism in Jean that fascinates him.

There’s a certain resolute tension in Jean’s jaw that occasionally appears, usually when a decision needs to be made he knows the answer to, yet he still hesitates. It’s that kind of tension that saves people, but Armin knows that Jean is still unsure, still questioning his ability, and most likely desire, to do the right thing. Not that anyone can blame him.

Nonetheless, after Armin’s served clean-up duty by helping pile the bodies of their friends on the pyre, he presses a bone fragment into Jean’s hand.

He says it’s Marco’s.

He says it because they need that tension; they need Jean to dig his heels in and set his jaw. They all need what Marco saw in him.

“Really?” Jean asks, tears in his eyes he tries to hide as Armin passes him the bone of some unknown soldier, dark night fast descending.

He nods, feeling spirited by Jean’s need to believe in the words.

“Trust me.”

Armin’s grandfather used to say—an old adage, apparently—that the pen is mightier than the sword; but later that evening, when Jean pledges loyalty to the Survey Corps, Armin realizes that lies, like bones, can protect just as much as destroy.


End file.
